


Fresh Meat

by Marta



Category: Lord of the Rings (2001 2002 2003), Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen, Hazing, Original Character(s), Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-05-21
Updated: 2008-05-21
Packaged: 2017-10-17 01:38:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/171577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marta/pseuds/Marta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Camp-fire talk, a few days out from Henneth Annûn. Anborn and Damrod have some fun at the expense of a new Ithilien Ranger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fresh Meat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tanaqui](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tanaqui/gifts).



Derufin raised his spoon and tasted the stew, frowning. He quickly changed his expression, but the look was not lost on Faramir. "Is aught amiss?" his captain asked.

Derufin swallowed the stew in his mouth. "Nay...." Derufin said, looking down into his stew. He took another bite and, once he had swallowed, met his captain's eyes. "Or, yes, sir. 'Tis nothing to be fixed, and I'd not say a word if you had not asked..." Faramir fixed the new recruit with a gaze he'd learned watching his father in council, and Derufin got to his point in a hurry. "It's bland, captain. Not like I'm used to at home, that's all." 

Faramir nodded and took a bite of his hardtack. Twice-baked bread and a strip or two of dried beef would serve well enough for his evening meal. Stew – even bland stew – required food not easily found in the wilds, and so they made only enough for the younger rangers; still growing, they needed bigger meals than more seasoned rangers. 

And Derufin was young, that much was clear: more boy than man if truth be told. Yet he was also a lord's son, and Faramir knew he he could not afford the luxury of a finnicky eater.

Before Faramir could answer, he heard Anborn's jovial voice. "You'll long for fresh meat soon enough, lad!" Anborn laughed and clapped Derufin on the knee. "Another three or four days and the fresh supplies will run low, and we'll have to rely more on what we can find. May even have to roast squirrels."

"Squirrels?" Derufin asked. 

Faramir had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. He knew it wouldn't do to give away Anborn's story. "Aye, squirrels," Anborn said. "Black squirrels out of Mirkwood. The Shadow draws all sorts of evil beasts, and I've seen a fair number, especially in the woods nearer the Ephel Dúath. They taste a bit bitter, but no one's died of it."

"Not died, perhaps," Damrod put in from the other side of the fire, "but they feel slimy going down, and I always dream a bit darker after we've had to eat them."

Anborn nodded. "'Course, that makes sense. They say the water's foul near Dol Guldur, and the air as well, so who knows what evil they carry south with them, if they lived too near that fortress. But meat's meat, and we can't be so picky in Ithilien. Isn't that so, Captain?"

Faramir recognized the mischievous twinkle in Anborn's eye but suspected it was missed by Derufin. He remembered his own first scouting trip, how some rangers had warned  _him_  of letting the Dead Marshes touch his skin lest the ghosts possess him. And he took pity on Derufin.

"We've enough dried beef that you needn't worry about squirrels, this trip," he assured the lad. "But you should eat well while the supplies hold."

Derufin nodded at that and took another bite of stew. This time the lad didn't hesitate.

**Author's Note:**

> Many of the ideas about Ranger diets when they're away Henneth Annûn come from a discussion I had with Tanaqui years ago, and they may have been her ideas originally. So all credit to her on that front.
> 
> Hardtack is bread baked multiple times. It was nutritious and could survive rough handling and did not go bad if kept dry; but it certainly was no pleasure to eat.
> 
> If you recognize the name Derufin, I "borrowed" him from Tolkien. He's one of the two sons of Duinhir, lord of Morthond. I assume Derufin is the younger son since he's named last, so it seemed reasonable that he'd serve a few years in Ithilien.
> 
> On spotting Gollum in Ithilien, Anborn says,
> 
> I thought I heard the thing hiss at me from high above as I turned away. A large squirrel, maybe. Perhaps under the shadow of the Unnamed some of the beasts of Mirkwood are wandering hither to our woods. They have black squirrels there, 'tis said." ("The Window on the West," The Two Towers)
> 
>  
> 
> Of course it's a bit ridiculous that Gollum could be mistaken for a squirrel, but it was a fun idea to play with. Just don't think too hard about how the squirrels make it all the way from Mirkwood (or why), or how Anborn knows what squirrels in Mirkwood look like.... I didn't.


End file.
